Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: tomoco on 20 July 2011, 22:51:18
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Any idea which one to choose. AA tried to double premium after 1st year with out claims. Thinking of going to the RAC.
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I am with the RAC and personally feel that they are generally very good...
However... They both have fair usage policy and are IMHO very much better than Green Flag...
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Call the AA, they will knock it down to the current webprice if you haven't used the service. I have to do this every year. Pain, but worth the call.
I chose the AA because they were cheapest at the time, and offered the best caskback ::)
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Thanks guys. will check web for discount etc....
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I am with the RAC and personally feel that they are generally very good...
However... They both have fair usage policy and are IMHO very much better than Green Flag...
That depends where you are in the country ;) ;)
When I worked for the garage in Basingrad we were the main Green Flag agent. My average attendance time was 17 minutes and my roadside repair rate was 97%. If we did work for the RAC it was normally only passed to us after the poor person had been stranded for more than 4 hours while they tried to get a patrol to them :o :o
Green flag do not have their own patrols, they are all local garages, so the wait is normally shorter :y
However, where I live now GF aren't particularly good but the RAC have been the only time I have called them :y (well... Arrived in a little over an hour but did come from 40 miles away ::))
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I used to work for one of the breakdown organisations aswell. I was given the top membership for free, value about £100 per year. I left in March 1999 and have not had any breakdown cover since. Saving me about £1300. If I breakdown now I would just use credit card to get me home.
May not suit everyone but I firmly believe if the aa/rac/gf can make money out of its insurance then I can save money by not having it.
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I am with the RAC and personally feel that they are generally very good...
However... They both have fair usage policy and are IMHO very much better than Green Flag...
That depends where you are in the country ;) ;)
When I worked for the garage in Basingrad we were the main Green Flag agent. My average attendance time was 17 minutes and my roadside repair rate was 97%. If we did work for the RAC it was normally only passed to us after the poor person had been stranded for more than 4 hours while they tried to get a patrol to them :o :o
Green flag do not have their own patrols, they are all local garages, so the wait is normally shorter :y
However, where I live now GF aren't particularly good but the RAC have been the only time I have called them :y (well... Arrived in a little over an hour but did come from 40 miles away ::))
I have 2 very poor experiences with Green Flag...
The first was when I had them come to look at my old 1.8TD Mondeo, which wouldn't start... When they came out, they fiddled about under the bonnet for a while, tried to start the car (which failed) and asked where they wanted me to put the car... I had a quick fiddle and found that the fuel primer diaphram had split slightly causing an air leak, manage to prime the engine and start it... Green Flag chappy was not impressed...
2nd Occasion was in Anglesey, on holiday with my Vectra 2.0 DI, which refused to start after the leak off pipes had been replaced.. The Green Flag prat turned up (with his bit of stuff in tow) and started implying that the diesel system was a closed system and that he wouldn't be able to get it started either... After a lot of tutting and indicating that it was going to be costly to get it started he said he would try a tow start, which, started the engine... He then undid the tow rope, said that it would be fine and buggered off so quick I didn't have the time to get back in the car, at which point the engine died and wouldn't start... Leaving me stranded 2 miles away from where I was, with nothing around me (or phone signal)... Strange thing was, when I did the same thing with another tow (and a little more fiddling, easy to spot problem) it ran fine...
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the AA don't give you any discounts for being a loyal member on renewal (well they haven't done so to me )the price always goes up . its cheaper to end your membership and rejoin again each year . i pay just over £15 a month for home-start,relay.accident recovery,and parts and labour warranty up to £500 per claim so just one claim a year pays for its self and i get total peace of mind :y
been with RAC and Green Flag in the past and they where fine just that the AA suit me better :y
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I had been with the AA for a long time, but left because of rubbish service. They are incapable of changing an alternator. :-X
Ken
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I had been with the AA for a long time, but left because of rubbish service. They are incapable of changing an alternator. :-X
Ken
On what car, at what time of day or night, was it a proper patrol in a van or a direct recovery driver ?
Some alternators are not roadside jobs, think audi A4 etc. where not even the drivebelt is a roadside job.
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I am with the RAC and personally feel that they are generally very good...
However... They both have fair usage policy and are IMHO very much better than Green Flag...
That depends where you are in the country ;) ;)
When I worked for the garage in Basingrad we were the main Green Flag agent. My average attendance time was 17 minutes and my roadside repair rate was 97%. If we did work for the RAC it was normally only passed to us after the poor person had been stranded for more than 4 hours while they tried to get a patrol to them :o :o
Green flag do not have their own patrols, they are all local garages, so the wait is normally shorter :y
However, where I live now GF aren't particularly good but the RAC have been the only time I have called them :y (well... Arrived in a little over an hour but did come from 40 miles away ::))
I have 2 very poor experiences with Green Flag...
The first was when I had them come to look at my old 1.8TD Mondeo, which wouldn't start... When they came out, they fiddled about under the bonnet for a while, tried to start the car (which failed) and asked where they wanted me to put the car... I had a quick fiddle and found that the fuel primer diaphram had split slightly causing an air leak, manage to prime the engine and start it... Green Flag chappy was not impressed...
2nd Occasion was in Anglesey, on holiday with my Vectra 2.0 DI, which refused to start after the leak off pipes had been replaced.. The Green Flag prat turned up (with his bit of stuff in tow) and started implying that the diesel system was a closed system and that he wouldn't be able to get it started either... After a lot of tutting and indicating that it was going to be costly to get it started he said he would try a tow start, which, started the engine... He then undid the tow rope, said that it would be fine and buggered off so quick I didn't have the time to get back in the car, at which point the engine died and wouldn't start... Leaving me stranded 2 miles away from where I was, with nothing around me (or phone signal)... Strange thing was, when I did the same thing with another tow (and a little more fiddling, easy to spot problem) it ran fine...
Like I said... Depends where you are in the country ;) ;)
As for the Vectra. He was right, it is indeed a closed system (as are all fuel systems) and needs bleeding. A tow start is a way of doing it but may need a couple of goes to ensure all the air is out. Personally I would have cracked off the injector pipes and bled it properly to start with (unless it was under warranty ;))
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I am with the RAC and personally feel that they are generally very good...
However... They both have fair usage policy and are IMHO very much better than Green Flag...
That depends where you are in the country ;) ;)
When I worked for the garage in Basingrad we were the main Green Flag agent. My average attendance time was 17 minutes and my roadside repair rate was 97%. If we did work for the RAC it was normally only passed to us after the poor person had been stranded for more than 4 hours while they tried to get a patrol to them :o :o
Green flag do not have their own patrols, they are all local garages, so the wait is normally shorter :y
However, where I live now GF aren't particularly good but the RAC have been the only time I have called them :y (well... Arrived in a little over an hour but did come from 40 miles away ::))
I have 2 very poor experiences with Green Flag...
The first was when I had them come to look at my old 1.8TD Mondeo, which wouldn't start... When they came out, they fiddled about under the bonnet for a while, tried to start the car (which failed) and asked where they wanted me to put the car... I had a quick fiddle and found that the fuel primer diaphram had split slightly causing an air leak, manage to prime the engine and start it... Green Flag chappy was not impressed...
2nd Occasion was in Anglesey, on holiday with my Vectra 2.0 DI, which refused to start after the leak off pipes had been replaced.. The Green Flag prat turned up (with his bit of stuff in tow) and started implying that the diesel system was a closed system and that he wouldn't be able to get it started either... After a lot of tutting and indicating that it was going to be costly to get it started he said he would try a tow start, which, started the engine... He then undid the tow rope, said that it would be fine and buggered off so quick I didn't have the time to get back in the car, at which point the engine died and wouldn't start... Leaving me stranded 2 miles away from where I was, with nothing around me (or phone signal)... Strange thing was, when I did the same thing with another tow (and a little more fiddling, easy to spot problem) it ran fine...
Like I said... Depends where you are in the country ;) ;)
As for the Vectra. He was right, it is indeed a closed system (as are all fuel systems) and needs bleeding. A tow start is a way of doing it but may need a couple of goes to ensure all the air is out. Personally I would have cracked off the injector pipes and bled it properly to start with (unless it was under warranty ;))
Indeed, it was purely just his attitude, more along the lines of how can I get this guy to have hs car go to my garage... I do agree with you in it being dependant on who comes out, sadly, on the 2 occasions I needed them (both different areas), I had bad experiences...
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the aa man who came out to my mates vectra the other day was top class we broke down on the A20 he turned up in 20 minutes towed us off the motorway to a safe spot and the spent 50 minutes fixing the car couldnt fault him turned out a wire had broke needless to say he got a large drink for being so helpfull :y
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google G.E.M recovery
i ve been a member for years used them a few times top class
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google G.E.M recovery
i ve been a member for years used them a few times top class
GEM, aka Equity Red Star, whose service is normally provided by local garages, frequently the same ones that Green Flag use ;) ;)
In fact... We used to get jobs faxed through from the GF control room on behalf of Equity Red Star :-X :-X
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I had a greenflag assosciate come out to my car vectra 2.5 V6 after it went into limp mode well reving itself up sounding like a tractor he pluged it into tech 2 and suprise suprise its my ecu as his tech 2 won't access the my ecu so get towed home with acess to my tools I looked into the sparkplugs found a burnt out plug leas and the electrode of the spark plug had gone ? Yup weird new plugs an new leads started and cured lol
But the worst thing is I was a recovery manager dealing with greenflag / rac / mondial and greater manchester police at the time this happend lol I'm now a fleet manager for a large company
I'm with elephant and have there cover greemflag lol its free so what the heck lol
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I arranged my cover with Asda!
The cover is with Britannia rescue and includes roadside, national rescue, cover at home, onward travel etc. for 70 pounds a year! :y
I've never called them out yet though!
http://www.asdafinance.com/insurance/breakdown/
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There is not an easy answer to this.
I have AA courtesy of my Bank. Was with RAC for 30 years until they started the no existing cusotmer loyalty thing from their indian call centre so told them where to go.
Called out the AA over Christmas 2009 and got terrible service in that they relayed the car via 3 different trucks from Bristol back to Sandhurst and also they had to pay for a taxi as they took over 12 hours to do it.
With Green Flag you get the same truck assigned as it is a contractor whereas AA try to use their own fleet wherever possible and so in 2009 we had 2 contractors and one fleet vehicle - total nightmare.
On balance and if AA was not part of my bank deal I would check out Green Flag.
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There is not an easy answer to this.
Called out the AA over Christmas 2009 and got terrible service in that they relayed the car via 3 different trucks from Bristol back to Sandhurst and also they had to pay for a taxi as they took over 12 hours to do it.
With Green Flag you get the same truck assigned as it is a contractor whereas AA try to use their own fleet wherever possible and so in 2009 we had 2 contractors and one fleet vehicle - total nightmare.
On balance and if AA was not part of my bank deal I would check out Green Flag.
And to do that the Green Flag contractor would have made use of the recovery exemption from the tacho rules.
That was done away with 2 years ago, for penty of good reasons. After all, do you want to be driven 200 miles by someone who has already done 8 hours work?
Now, we have to look at a job and check that a driver has enough hours to reach the destination and get back.
If there is no way of doing it, guess what happens?
Yes, you get 'relayed'(an AA term but descriptive) home!
The £100ish cost of national recovery is a real bargain; if you had to pay for a recovery from Bristol to Sandhurst it would easily be more than £500, paid up front.
Personally, I'm amazed that the recovery organisations don't insist that your car is repaired locally with them possibly paying some of the cost, than recover it a long distance.
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In my case the contractor who came to us on the m5 was prepared to take us to Sandhurst in one hit - about 100 miles or so. AA rejected it and we went backwards to Gordano Services to be first the subject of an attempt to trolley it on the back of an AA van but the Omega would not fit and then we had to wait for a truck (another contractor)and he was almost out of hours and could only go to Chievely. The first contractor said that when he works for Green flag they give him the whole job and he uses his own network if he has to relay.
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There is not an easy answer to this.
Called out the AA over Christmas 2009 and got terrible service in that they relayed the car via 3 different trucks from Bristol back to Sandhurst and also they had to pay for a taxi as they took over 12 hours to do it.
With Green Flag you get the same truck assigned as it is a contractor whereas AA try to use their own fleet wherever possible and so in 2009 we had 2 contractors and one fleet vehicle - total nightmare.
On balance and if AA was not part of my bank deal I would check out Green Flag.
And to do that the Green Flag contractor would have made use of the recovery exemption from the tacho rules.
That was done away with 2 years ago, for penty of good reasons. After all, do you want to be driven 200 miles by someone who has already done 8 hours work?
Now, we have to look at a job and check that a driver has enough hours to reach the destination and get back.
If there is no way of doing it, guess what happens?
Yes, you get 'relayed'(an AA term but descriptive) home!
The £100ish cost of national recovery is a real bargain; if you had to pay for a recovery from Bristol to Sandhurst it would easily be more than £500, paid up front.
Personally, I'm amazed that the recovery organisations don't insist that your car is repaired locally with them possibly paying some of the cost, than recover it a long distance.
Must admit, I used to be on the road for a lot of hours when doing a GF job. Longest I went without actually sleeping for a full night was 4 days :o :o Just a couple of hours kip whenever I could get it ::) ::)
I don't miss those days ;)